Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Gianni Bedini

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Guest Editor

Department of Biology, University of Pisa, I-56126 Pisa, Italy
Interests: botanic gardens; ex situ conservation; biodiversity informatics; plant chromosome number evolution; orbicules

Special Issue Information

In the 1960s, the serendipitous ex situ retrieval of the toromiro tree (Sophora toromiro (Phil.) Skottsb.), following its extinction from natural habitats, put botanic gardens in the spotlight of the conservation stage. The following decades were marked by several initiatives that exploited botanic garden collections to reintroduce lost species into natural habitats. The establishment or reorganization of IABG, BGCS (later BGCI), and scores of regional and national networks provided essential coordination of botanic gardens. However, despite encouraging successes with a few species, which were rescued and restored to their natural habitats, threats to biodiversity are still rampant worldwide. One hundred thirteen flowering plant species are extinct, according to IUCN. Its global Red List further includes 34 species as extinct in the wild and a staggering 16,667 as threatened, i.e., VU, EN, or CR.

This Special Issue of JZBG intends to explore the current projects, resources, and tools that the botanic garden community has developed to fight the loss of biodiversity. Furthermore, it aspires to find an answer to questions such as, but not limited to: Who is keeping track of how many threatened species grow in botanic gardens and how many do not? Is our knowledge on this subject comprehensive or do geographic/taxonomic gaps warp it? What are the most compelling stories that botanic gardens can tell to various audiences (scientists, conservationists, decision-makers, the general public)? What are the bitterest lessons learned? Have botanic gardens undergone significant changes to cater to conservation projects and practitioners? What resources are botanic gardens deploying to raise public awareness about the need for conservation practices? Are education programs firmly rooted in conservation?

Based on the contribution from leading researchers, the Special Issue will gauge the current efforts of botanic gardens toward a zero-extinction target.

Prof. Dr. Gianni Bedini
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

botanic garden collections
threatened species
biodiversity loss
species conservation
species translocation
networking
public awareness

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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7 pages, 2924 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Giraffe in the Botanic Garden of Pisa (Tuscany, Northern Italy)

by Gianni Bedini and Simone Farina

J. Zool. Bot. Gard. 2022, 3(2), 170-176; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/jzbg3020014 - 12 Apr 2022

Viewed by 3595

Abstract

The Botanic Garden of Pisa was established in 1543 as a teaching tool and research facility. As with the vast majority of its sister institutions, it focuses on plant collections. However, for a short time in the first half of the XIX century, the Botanic Garden exhibited a living giraffe, a cow, and a calf. Due to the transient nature of the exhibition, it could have easily gone unnoticed but for the fortuitous representation of the animals in a drawing of the same period and for sparse notes archived in the libraries of Pisa University. Furthermore, a XIX-century publication on the morphological and behavioural traits of three antelopes indirectly suggests that those animals had been kept in the Botanic Garden for research purposes. This paper presents the evidence of the living animal display in the Botanic Garden of Pisa and the context in which it was collected. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Botanic Gardens, a Powerful Alliance for Conservation)

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Other

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14 pages, 834 KiB

Open AccessPerspective

How Can India Leverage Its Botanic Gardens for the Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Wild Food Plant Resources through the Implementation of a Global Strategy for Plant Conservation?

by Ajay Kumar

J. Zool. Bot. Gard. 2021, 2(4), 586-599; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/jzbg2040042 - 13 Nov 2021

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Abstract

Wild food plants (WFPs) are consumed by the indigenous communities in various parts of the world for food, nutrition, and medicinal purposes. They are usually collected from the wild and sometimes grown in the vicinity of the forests and the dwellings of the indigenous people in a way such that they are not far from their natural habitats. WFPs are important for the food and nutritional requirements of the indigenous communities. The WFPs are seasonal and collected from the wild whenever they are available. Therefore, the food menu of the tribal co mmunities changes with the seasons. A number of studies have demonstrated various WFPs consumed by indigenous communities including India. The results show that an enormous diversity of WFPs is consumed by the indigenous people of India. However, a few studies also suggest that the consumption of WFPs among the indigenous communities is declining along with the dwindling of traditional ethnobotanical knowledge linked to the collection, processing, cooking, storage, and limited cultivation of WFPs. India can leverage the network of its botanic gardens for the conservation of its wild food plant resources, the traditional and indigenous knowledge linked to it, and its popularization among the citizens within the framework of Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC). This article provided an overview of the need to focus on WFPs, limitations of current studies, and role of botanic gardens in the conservation of wild food plants through the implementation of GSPC. This article further provided a framework for the role of botanic gardens in the popularization of WFPs, increasing the awareness about their importance, documentation, and preservation of the traditional knowledge linked to various aspects of WFPs within the GPSC framework. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Botanic Gardens, a Powerful Alliance for Conservation)

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